A year ago this week, James Chasse died in police custody
after being beaten, Tasered, and hogtied by officers, and then
transported to the county detention center instead of being taken to a
hospital.

It shocked the city, given that police had targeted Chasse for
merely acting suspiciously. After coming back from vacation almost two
weeks after the tragedy, Mayor Tom Potter pledged to form a committee
that would seek ways to reform how police interact with people who are
mentally ill, and to push for more funding for mental health
services.

A year later, some of that has happened. Police officers are now
required to undergo crisis intervention training, and according to
police spokesman Brian Schmautz, some 25 officers per month have taken
the classes since February—that’s approximately 200 officers as
of this writing. And the 2007 state legislature, as boasted about by
Potter in an Oregonian op-ed on the anniversary of Chasse’s
death, put more money into mental health services in part as a result
of lobbying by Potter and Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler.

But a full year of politicians talking about reforms to the mental
health system hasn’t been enough for those still seeking justice for
Chasse’s death.

“Jim Chasse didn’t die because of his mental health issue,” said
Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association (MHA) during a Monday,
September 17, protest outside of city hall. Instead, Renaud and dozens
of other protestors argued, Chasse died because he was beaten by
cops.

And that was the message of the day, as carried by numerous signs
that read “Protect and Serve does not mean Beat and Kill” and “It’s not
about a few bad apples, it’s about the whole barrel.”

In a list of unanswered questions and unresolved concerns delivered
to the mayor’s office, the Mental Health Association asked repeatedly,
“Why is the district attorney in charge of prosecuting police beatings
and deaths?” and “Why haven’t any police officers ever been charged
with using excessive force?”

In other words, what activists are demanding isn’t necessarily more
funding for mental health, though they welcome it. Instead, they are
asking for more accountability for officers who cross the line. The
last question in MHA’s letter speaks to the concerns of the activists
gathered on the city hall sidewalk: “Since when is looking odd a
crime?”